Chapter 23 (1/2)
Chapter 23: The False Gentleman – Part 1
Translated by: Kestrel
Edited by: Ritpoppy
The first thing he heard was the ringing of bells.
The ringing sounds gradually woke the boy from his sleep. This was an extremely beautiful sound, like a clear spring and running water, like waves of Sanskrit*, tranquil and harmonious, making him feel very cozy. The boy had a habit of waking at the same time every day, so he judged that it should be early morning by now; today was his turn to make breakfast, so he slowly opened his eyes.
(TN: The language of Buddhism. Think of it as the equivalent of hearing holy choirs! )
What entered his vision was pitch-black darkness. With a sudden start, he was now fully awake.
Inadvertently his hand seemed to touch something-a person? Was someone lying next to him? There was liquid? Blood? In short, it was absolutely clear: He wasn't in his own room.
”The last one has awoken, I see.”
The boy abruptly lifted his head; for some reason, every hair on his body stood up at the sound of that unfamiliar man's voice. Above him, he saw a black shadowy figure.
The shadow seemed to lift a hand to make a simple movement, and with a flash, the oil lamp lit up.
What he saw before him was a sea of dead bodies. On both sides of the temple, they'd died in all kind of strange ways, their bodies twisted, faces sinister to look at, ten thousand needles puncturing their necks. Mouth, nose, chest, one thousand eight hundred silver needles bursting out of their bodies, blood spurting out like so much broth, flesh and blood indistinct beneath it. This sea of the dead had been alive not long ago-they were his fellow disciples. The scene he saw now was too sudden and incomparably terrifying; the boy's pulse abruptly stopped for half a beat, his mind a complete blank. He'd clearly woken up the same as always, so why would a scene like this appear when he opened his eyes?
The boy was entirely unable to understand any of what he was seeing, his legs seeming to have been filled with lead as he didn't dare move from his spot. He didn't even dare look too long at the face of that youth in the black clothes, only seeing that by the youth's feet were the only other living people: the sect head and his Da s.h.i.+-xiong.
They had the same terrified expression on their faces as he did; the two of them had never been bound by any means before, and yet the aura of that youth in black – who couldn't be much older than himself – had suppressed them so that they didn't dare to move.
A shudder went through the sect head's body, and he suddenly made his advance.
”I have no grievance or quarrel with you, so why…why must you do this?”
The youth in black shot him a cold glance as he said, ”I don't have the spare time to answer you.” He paused, fiddling with the unique and elaborate bell in his hands, before continuing, ”But I'm in a good mood today, so I don't plan to clean the place out entirely.”
The youth's eyes were filled with haze, his entire body spiritless, completely lacking in any sort of vitality; he didn't at all look like he was in the good mood he said he was.
”Sect Leader Lin, I'm giving you the right to decide. Between these two,” the boy watched as he pointed at him and Da s.h.i.+-xiong, ”which do you want to live?”
At that, the boy's eyes widened, not for any other reason but because: he was doomed.
He had average talent, without a single outstanding thing about him, whereas Da s.h.i.+-xiong had an amazing foundation, was generally the one the sect head doted on the most, and was loved and respected by all the younger disciples. Regardless of whether it was talent or position, there was no way he could compete with Da s.h.i.+-xiong. Besides, he should already have died ten years ago; if the sect head hadn't picked him up out of the snow back then, he probably wouldn't have lived to today. If the sect head wanted him to trade back this life, he had absolutely no reason to deny. But even so, the boy's desire to continue living didn't decrease even a bit. The sect head had always been renowned for being benevolent and kind, so the boy held onto a tiny strand of hope that this man who was both his teacher and his father could find a way to get around it, allowing both his s.h.i.+xiong and himself to survive.
”s.h.i.+u! s.h.i.+fu save me! I don't want to die…I don't want to die!”
Suddenly, Da s.h.i.+-xiong crawled on his knees before the sect head, reaching out to grab tightly to his sleeve as he said, ”s.h.i.+fu please save me, you'll choose me, won't you! I'm good at everything, everything about me is better than this worthless tras.h.!.+ He, he doesn't have any use at all, you brought him back just to eat our food and drink our water, we've already shown him the utmost benevolence, there's no need to save him! s.h.i.+fu, I'm your blood-related disciple!”
The boy's face turned pale as he opened his mouth, ”Da s.h.i.+-xiong…”
Da s.h.i.+-xiong cursed at him, ”You shut up! I've always treated you so well, you aren't thinking of fighting with me over the chance to live, are you? One who conducts himself properly must recognize kindness and seek to repay it, Xiao s.h.i.+-di, now is the time for you to repay my kindness – don't worry, after you've died I'll make sure to give you a grand funeral, alright? So go ahead and die, go on!”
The boy was so frightened he couldn't get out a single full sentence, his whole body trembling so hard he seemed to be twitching, his teeth chattering as he looked towards the sect head with both caution and dismay.
”s.h.i.+fu…”
The sect head said, ”I promise to bury you well.”
The boy suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air; that breath broke halfway as his heart dropped violently down from where it had been lodged in his throat, tears promptly pouring down his face.
The sect leader didn't dare look at him, guiltily saying, ”I…I truly have no choice. If I choose Da s.h.i.+-xiong, there is a chance our sect might be able to make a comeback…otherwise we'll be finished for good! This teacher has always treated you well; you were originally meant to die all those years ago, but I saved you and allowed you to live another ten years, so you should be thankful! Consider this repaying your life to me. Besides…I only make this decision because I have no other choice, you understand, don't you?”
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Da s.h.i.+-xiong, having gained a new lease on life, let out a sigh of relief before promptly kneeling before the sect head and giving him ten or more solid kowtows in thanks.
Meanwhile, the boy had already stopped listening, fear having enveloped his entire body.
Would he become like everyone else here? Swallow thousands upon thousands of needles, opening up his throat and splitting apart his belly? Thinking up to here, the desire to live made him want to pick up his feet and run, but his overwhelming terror made his legs too weak to stand. The boy crawled away as he cried out for help. Even now, he still didn't understand why something like this could have happened, was it even real? It wasn't a dream, was it? The entire sect was dead to the last man; there was no meaning to crying for help now.
But when a person reached the point of desperation, their belief in miracles often led them to do meaningless things. And the boy's miracle occurred.
Behind him came the sudden sound of Da s.h.i.+-xiong's yells. At first it was just a tiny whimper, but immediately following, it changed into a miserable shriek of extreme pain. Loud enough to reverberate around the rafters for days, so terrifying it cut into one's very soul. The boy turned his head to look, and saw Da s.h.i.+-xiong curled up on the ground like a worm, his body ripped open from within. The screams continued for a while as he thrashed around, jerkily trying to pull something from out of his mouth. With a hard pull and a rain of fresh blood, he fished out a b.l.o.o.d.y red string. Da s.h.i.+-xiong grabbed onto the red string as if it were a life-saving thread, tugging it outwards like a madman; what came out was silver needles, one after another, each with b.l.o.o.d.y flesh still attached to it.
The boy turned his head to vomit violently, terrified to the breaking point, and yet slightly relieved.
The youth in black watched Da s.h.i.+-xiong with slightly narrowed eyes, as if the way the other struggled as he died had dirtied his eyes.
The boy started suddenly, and stared straight at the youth.
He hadn't planned to let Da s.h.i.+-xiong live from the start. Those thousands of needles had been buried in his body long before; the moment he performed any sort of substantial movement, such as kowtowing and crawling, the silver needles would pierce into his flesh, making him wish for life as he died and pray for death as he continued to live. Placing those needles without letting him feel the slightest thing off about his body was truly both evil and talented to an extreme. The boy realized that this man-was a terrifying madman with an innate gift for murder!
Once he'd thought up to this point, an unbearable itch crawled its way across his chest, as if he himself had been stuck full of needles just like his Da s.h.i.+-xiong.